§ Mr. Mike Thomasasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many 738W civil servants in his Department and at what ranks have (a) an official car allocated to them, (b) first call on official cars from a pool and (c) other than occasional access to an official car on any other basis.
§ Mr. ArmstrongThe Permanent Secretary has an allocated car for official duties. One Second Permanent Secretary has first call on a pool car similarly. Senior staff can use pool cars for official journeys where suitable public transport is not available. There are about 375 self-drive cars and estate cars countrywide, mainly in works depots, for official use. The majority of these are allocated to units rather than to individual officers.